Astros outlast Dodgers in drama-filled Game 2 to even World Series

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The Houston Astros’ George Springer celebrates in front of the Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal after hitting a go-ahead, two-run home run in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

LOS ANGELES — Some time deep into November, this might all make sense. Or it might hurt like crazy.

For now, just let it wash over you.

“That’s an incredible game on so many levels, so many ranges of emotion,” Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Wednesday’s epic Game 2. “If you like October baseball – if you like any kind of baseball – that’s one of the most incredible games you’ll ever be a part of.”

Nine runs in the chaotic final four innings including six home runs make Hinch absolutely right. And they made his Astros 7-6 winners over the Dodgers when the 11-inning rollercoaster finally came to a stop, giving them a split of the two games at Dodger Stadium and sending the World Series to Houston tied.

“We’re going to get them. Nobody said it was going to be easy,” Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said.

One after the other, Mark Walter, Andrew Friedman, Dave Roberts and Sandy Koufax each arrived to offer a string of hugs and pats on the back for Jansen, who blew a save for the first time in 13 postseason opportunities.

After their Game 1 victory, someone had paraphrased noted philosopher and tiger aficionado Mike Tyson on a white board in the Dodgers’ clubhouse. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, it said, a colorful adjective included.

Game 2 was a haymaker landed squarely on the Dodgers’ jaw. Their bullpen had been historically good this postseason and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts handled Game 2 like a true believer, pulling starter Rich Hill after just four innings.

Visions of a 2-0 lead had to be dancing in their heads when they handed a two-run lead to Jansen in the eighth inning.

But climate change affects us all. The lead and the aura of invincibility that had begun to grow around the Dodgers’ bullpen melted away as the Astros hit four home runs in the final three innings, regaining their swagger – as emphasized by Carlos Correa’s righteous bat flip after his 10th-inning homer.

“We don’t hang our heads in here,” Jansen said when asked how shocking it was to see the bullpen collapse so fully. “We didn’t do that all year. We’re not going to do it now.”

It looked like the Dodgers would go up déjà vu to none in the Series when Corey Seager put them in a very familiar position with a two-run home run in the sixth inning.

Just as Justin Turner had in Game 1, Seager’s homer gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.

A couple hours later, that would seem quaint.

The Astros’ struggling offense scratched out just one run against Hill but Roberts pulled Hill after four innings. In three starts this postseason, Roberts has let Hill face a hitter three times in the same game just once (Jon Jay in Game 2 of the NLCS).

Who can blame Roberts for wanting to get to his bullpen as soon as possible? Heading into the eighth inning of Game 2, that group had not allowed a run in 28 consecutive innings, a postseason record.

But Alex Bregman doubled to start the eighth despite a diving effort by Yasiel Puig down the right-field line. After the play, Puig fired his glove into the ground in frustration and squatted with his head in his hands as Roberts brought in Kenley Jansen to try to get the final six outs.

Correa bounced a single through the middle to make it a one-run game and end the scoreless run of the Dodgers’ bullpen.

No matter, Jansen was close to infallible and the Dodgers were 98-0 when leading after eight innings this season (including the postseason).

But Marwin Gonzalez led off the ninth inning with a solo home run on an 0-and-2 pitch.

“It was just flat. Can’t do anything about it now,” Jansen said of the guilty cutter. “One missed pitch and he got it.

“I’m human. I’m not a machine.”

With the score tied, Roberts turned to Josh Fields for the 10th inning. Fields’ former teammates turned on him. He threw five pitches to Jose Altuve and Correa. Two of them wound up in the left-field pavilion.

Puig answered with a solo home run in the bottom of the 10th and the Dodgers still had life. Most of it had drained away when Logan Forsythe drew a two-out walk. He moved to second on a wild pitch and scored – barely ahead of a strong throw by right fielder Josh Reddick – on a single by NLCS hero Kike’ Hernandez.

Hernandez moved to second on Reddick’s throw and could have advanced farther on Chris Devenski’s wild pickoff throw. Things weren’t that simple in Game 2, though. Devenski’s throw hit umpire Laz Diaz and dropped on the infield.

Roberts had pushed all his buttons by then, though, and he brought Brandon McCarthy in to pitch the 11th.

Suffering from a variety of ailments ranging from blisters to inconsistent mechanics, McCarthy had pitched only six innings at the major-league level after July and had only rarely pitched out of the bullpen in his career.

But he showed well enough in the Dodgers’ simulated games to be added to the World Series roster.

This wasn’t a simulation. McCarthy gave up a leadoff single to Cameron Maybin and a two-run home run to Springer that carried over the right field wall on the superheated air.

“A slider. I left it up a little bit,” McCarthy said. “Off the bat, I didn’t think it would be a home run.”

Even that was almost not enough. With two outs in the bottom of the 11th, Charlie Culberson hit the eighth home run of the game before the Astros could close it out.

“There’s a lot of ways we can take this,” Hernandez said. “Sometimes it’s better to tip your cap and give the other team credit.”

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.